The article has helped me a lot to get clarity in the extreme stressful work situation I have found myself in the last year. I am SO happy I quit. It has been 2 days and I am slowly finding myself back, whoa… I can not even find words for the relieve I feel and re-reading this article now, while the stressful, damaging work situation is not present anymore helps me to get the situation clear and regroup myself. I feel I have been hiding like a small scared child in a corner, only to come out to scream and cry.

Sobriety is all about what you take in and leave out. Since I could not moderate in what part of her (destructive) communication I let in I needed to leave.

Reading through the list I have memories of the way my parents communicated and how I was brought up. I think, if I want to summarise (is that the word?) the situation of my childhood, of the marriage of my parents, of the family situation I would say that in the basis we lived in a continuous battle with each other. I was once given two questions by my therapist; “If the other exists, can you exist?” and I had to answer “No”. “If you exist, can the other exist?” and the answer was “No.” again. That is how I grew up, thinking that people have to fight continuously for their spot in this world, thinking that if somebody took the right to live, to be, they needed to be taken down because it was seen as a threat. Possibly siblings envy but then on a family scale. The execution of fight-flight-freeze mode in a group. Obviously that does not work in a group when one/people execute this to the max so there was a solution which is called hierarchy. My father was the top-dog and we all had to follow. He overruled and undercut my mother where ever she went only when she did that to herself he would support her and be the nice guy. I followed and supported that behaviour. I am sorry mom, I am so sorry. But why the FUCK DID YOU NOT STAND UP?!! Cut his balls of and shove them down his throat? Why not? (excuse my French)

I guess for the same reason as I let my boss bully me: because you somehow felt you did not have the right to do so. Because I somehow felt I did not have the right to do so. Because of the (family) dynamics we grew up in. Because I agreed with the dynamics at work because the look familiar to me. That is where I blow off steam to the outside world but my inner Feeling is saying: “Aaah, there is me being put down. Wow, that really makes me feel at home. I like it here. :-)” Masochism? Not sure how those dynamics work. She’s a sadist though, I know that. And I did ‘analyse’ the rest of my colleagues and found traits of masochism in all of them. Some of them even literally said: “I like dominant women.” Karma just pulled a joke on me by making the asshole a woman instead of a man. If it would have been a man I would have seen it earlier. 😀

If we look at verbal abuse as a means of maintaining control and power over someone, we can think of the types of verbal abuse listed and explained in this post as being ways that someone tries to dominate or control their partner.

Does this mean that the abuser actually feels more powerful when he (or she), for instance, subtly puts down his partner’s interests? Yes, as incomprehensible as this is to some of us. Does this mean that their partner feels put down? Not always. He or she may feel a twinge of sadness because they cannot share this interest. Or he or she may feel a twinge of sadness that their partner can’t enjoy, say, a particular artist or composer. Does this mean that the abuser can’t (or doesn’t) enjoy this pleasure? Not always; he or she may simply find greater pleasure in feeling that they have power over their partner.

We will also see that verbal abuse prevents real relationships. This seems obvious, but the partner of an abuser may live under the illusion that he or she has a real relationship. This may be for a number of reasons; an important one is that, as a couple, the abuser and their partner may function adequately in their respective roles. Verbal abusers generally experience many of their feelings as anger. For instance, if a verbal abuser feels unsure and anxious he may simply feel angry—possibly angry that he is feeling unsure and anxious. Yet part of being human is the ability to feel. The ability to feel, like the ability to think, is universal to humanity. Unfortunately, the abuser is generally unwilling to accept his feelings and unwilling to reveal them to a partner. He builds a wall between himself and his partner and maintains that distance.

In The Verbally Abusive Relationship, Patricia Evans identifies a number of categories of verbal abuse. Some are obvious, while others are more subtle:

1. Withholding.

Withholding is primarily manifested as a withholding of information and a failure to share thoughts and feelings. A person who withholds information refuses to engage with his or her partner in a healthy relationship. He or she does not share feelings or thoughts. When he or she does share anything, it is purely factual or functional information of the sort their partner could have looked up online, read on his or her Facebook wall, or figured out on their own. Examples of withholding communication that fail to engage the partner include: “The car is almost out of gas”; “The keys are on the table”; and “The show is on now.”

2. Countering.

Countering is a tendency to be argumentative—not merely in political, philosophical, or scientific contexts but in ordinary contexts as well. The victim of the abuse may share her positive feelings about a movie she just saw, and the abuser may then attempt to convince her that her feelings are wrong. This is countering, or dismissing the victim’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences on a regular basis.

3. Discounting.

Discounting is an attempt to deny that the victim of the abuse has any right to his or her thoughts or feelings. It may come out as criticism—but criticism of a particular kind. The abuser may tell the victim on a regular basis that he or she is too sensitive, too childish, has no sense of humor, or tends to make a big deal out of nothing. The abuser thereby denies the victim’s inner reality, indirectly telling a partner that how they feel and what they experience are wrong.

4. Verbal abuse disguised as jokes.

The abuser may say something very upsetting to the victim of the abuse and, after seeing her reaction add, “It was just a joke!” Abuse is not OK in any form; jokes that hurt are abusive.

5. Blocking and diverting.

Blocking and diverting is a form of withholding in which the abuser decides which topics are “good” conversation topics. An abuser practicing this form of abuse may tell the victim that she is talking out of turn or is complaining too much.

6. Accusing and blaming.

In these forms of abuse the abuser will accuse the victim of things that are outside of his or her control. He or she might accuse a partner of preventing them from getting a promotion because the partner is overweight, or ruining his or her reputation because the partner dropped out of college.

7. Judging and criticizing.

Judging and criticizing is similar to accusing and blaming but also involves a negative evaluation of the partner. As Evans points out, “Most ‘you’ statements are judgmental, critical, and abusive.” Some abusive judging and criticizing “you” statements are: “You are never satisfied”; “You always find something to be upset about”; and “No one likes you because you are so negative.”

8. Trivializing.

Trivializing is a form of verbal abuse that makes most things the victim of the abuse does or wants to do seem insignificant. The abuser might undermine his or her work, style of dressing, or choice of food.

9. Undermining.

Undermining is similar to trivializing, which consists of undermining everything the victim says or suggests, or making her question herself and her own opinions and interests.

10. Threatening.

Threatening is a common form of verbal abuse and can be very explicit, such as, “If you don’t start doing what I say, I will leave you.” Or it can be more subtle, such as, “If you don’t follow my advice, others will find out that you are a very unreliable person.”

11. Name calling.

Name calling can be explicit or subtle. Explicit name-calling can consist in calling the victim of the abuse a “bitch” or other hurtful words. But it can also be more subtle, such as when someone says things that are implicitly hurtful, for instance, “You are such a victim,” or “You think you are so precious, don’t you?”

12. Forgetting.

The category of forgetting covers a range of issues ranging from forgetting a promise to forgetting a date or an appointment. Even if the abuser really forgot, it is still abuse, because he ought to have made an effort to remember.

Denial is abusive when it consists of denying one’s bad behavior and failing to realize the consequences of this behavior. An abuser will always try to find a way to justify and rationalize his behavior. This is a way of denying that he has done anything wrong.

15. Abusive anger.

Any form of yelling and screaming, particularly out of context. Even yelling “Shut up!” is abusive. No one deserves to be yelled at.

Back to my own writing: I AM HAPPY THAT I QUIT!!! I have done this job for a year and 2 days. It is autumn now and today the sun is out, another moment it rains like crazy. This sort of sums up my mood but I have seen several rainbows today and that is GOOD! I am trying to be aware of the swings I make, so I try to be a witness to what is happening instead of being thrown all over the place by my emotions. I like it. This is what I need more of, this is what I want to be able to do so awareness is what I need to practise.

A woman who loves herself would love herself. 🙂 ❤ What I am fighting with currently is that something within me says that I need time to process what has happened but that would be the old Feeling. I think I would feel way better if I make this day, every moment of the day the beginning of my new life. 🙂 I worked till the last day of my notice so I did not ow her anything. HR offered me paid leave, I refused. I actually even took some time off to see a doctor and to attend a funeral. All of that could have been paid with me not working. I did not. Now I am free. I need to behave as such. And I will! Nature is showing me the rainbows!! Who am I to sulk? I AM FREE!!!!

This, but with less tension in the shoulders and hopefully a little more regard for the rest of the world. 🙂